Thief rigged to new skeleton

[Springheel]

Well, this was a big pain to weight, with all the straps and gloves and buckles and what not. Luckily I'm on vacation, so I was able to dive into it over the past five days and get the thief model rigged to the new skeleton. He's now in good working order, though I still have to tweak some attachment points. I also have in mind some alternate versions by mixing and matching with existing models.

 

 

I have a question about the player model, however. How often does the player model get rendered? Is there any performance advantage to making a low-poly player version of this thief model for the player? Since it's only seen in reflections, a lot of detail needed for the AI version could be removed for the player.

 

Also, the old player thief had some specific animations, like leaning, that the new skeleton doesn't have. Are those hard-coded in somewhere or can they simply be commented out until I have time to make new ones?

[New Horizon]

I have a question about the player model, however. How often does the player model get rendered? Is there any performance advantage to making a low-poly player version of this thief model for the player? Since it's only seen in reflections, a lot of detail needed for the AI version could be removed for the player.

 

Also, the old player thief had some specific animations, like leaning, that the new skeleton doesn't have. Are those hard-coded in somewhere or can they simply be commented out until I have time to make new ones?

 

I can't see there being much performance advantage. The player model is only used for Third person stuff...or reflections. No bearing on first person at all. I would say leave the detailed model, in case mappers ever decide to do some type of third person cinematic with it.

 

As for the animations, I think they can probably be commented out...perhaps in the player def file?

[Tels]

Very good work! He looks a bit skinny in the first shot, but I think that's ok, he's supposed to be nimble, fast and lean - and food isn't always available for thiefs.

 

Agree with NH, I tink the player model is never rendered, anyway, unless in reflections etc and there we want the full thing.

[Nosslak]

That is looking very good! I've been considering making some mirrors but have been put off as there wouldn't be any good player reflections but now that is an option again.

[Mortem Desino]

Just don't forget the possibility that this model may be used in in-game cinematics. How many polys is that model currently at?

[Springheel]

The thief model is fairly high-poly compared to the rest of our AI. It's 7500 polys, with 2300 shadow-casting polys. I could probably reduce that by about 2000 for the player version, but if it's only rendered when visible in reflections, it's probably not worth the effort.

 

What happens when the player shadow is enabled? Does it then render the model all the time?